Night Journey

Chapter 156 Tranquility
Footsteps echoed outside the door, growing closer and closer.

The air seemed to freeze, and the atmosphere became oppressive and heavy.

However, Dai Lin calmly organized the documents, arranging them neatly on the desktop.

During the debate about justice, he had prepared himself to be killed by Decal, but the director he respected so much ultimately left in anger.

In that instant, Dailin wondered if he had made a mistake—perhaps the invisible one was someone else?
But now, Decal has returned.

Given the current situation, Dai Lin believes that no further concrete evidence is needed.

His life was nearing its end.

Tick ​​tock, tick tock...

Dai Lin considered leaving the city garrison immediately, fleeing in a panic under the rainy night, seeking help from other colleagues, or even firing a warning shot like a madman to attract the attention of others.

He spent a few seconds rejecting each of these decisions.

With that terrifying power of returning to stillness and the difference in rank, no matter which plan Dalin chooses, he cannot find a way out. If nothing unexpected happens, the thread of his fate will break tonight.

What will happen next?

It wasn't hard to guess what was going on; Cillian would be furious and seek revenge, nailing Decal to the ground in the stinking puddles.

Even though Cillian's strength was far inferior to Dekar's, he subconsciously felt that the killer was definitely capable of doing it.

Oh, and Anya too.

Will she feel grief for herself?

Maybe yes, maybe no. It's true, we've spent so much time together and kissed so many times, yet I still can't figure out what she's thinking.

So, in these final moments, what else can I do for them?

As Dai Lin was fretting, footsteps approached and stopped at the door.

One second, two seconds...

At one point, Dai Lin suddenly thought of something, picked up the pen on the table, and intended to pierce his thigh, but then he realized something and abandoned the idea.

Dai Lin bit his tongue, the sharp pain lingering, the taste of blood spreading in his mouth.

Meanwhile, De Karl went back into the office.

As if the storm that had just exploded in her mind was just an illusion, Dai Lin put on her coat and packed her suitcase as usual, preparing to turn off the desk lamp and end her overtime work for the night.

"Chief? Is there anything else?"

Dai Lin's face still showed surprise, not understanding why he had come back again.

Decal remained silent, his sharp gaze sweeping across the table. Seeing this, Dalin intentionally or unintentionally pressed down on the documents on the table with his elbow.

“Dalin…”

The sound was like the wind blowing from a deep cave, carrying a sense of emptiness and remoteness.

Decal's body happened to block the exit door, and he spoke.

“Our ideas are indeed full of contradictions, but these contradictions are not irreconcilable. Just as we don’t necessarily have to kill the Reverse Falcon, banishing or driving him away is also a good option.”

Before Dalin could speak, Decal stepped forward again and came to the desk.

Those gloomy eyes had lost all their light, almost merging with the shadows, leaving Dalin with only murky darkness.

Seeing this, Dai Lin was momentarily dazed.

His memory suddenly returned to many years ago, when he had just become an Iron Guard and was recklessly indulging in the shadows and mud of the city, relying on his extraordinary strength, until one day he was arrested by De Karl for violence.

Dalin thought he would be imprisoned for several years, or exiled, or even subjected to more severe punishment.

But he was greeted with a warm meal and an invitation from Decal.

“Dailin, you are young and have unlimited potential. You shouldn’t be living this kind of life.”

De Karl extended the invitation.

"Would you like to change this city with me?"

Time is a terrible enemy; everything will be transformed beyond recognition under its power, except for the stubborn and unyielding iron and stone.

Now, Dalin felt immense sorrow and inquired.

"Director, what has caused you to become so crazy?"
Is it power, an obsession with changing fate, or some more sinister, unspeakable secret?

Decal took a deep breath and, across the desk, stretched out his hands as if to embrace Dalyn.

"Okay, I'll tell you, Dalin."

Dailin heard a whisper in his ear.

"Before my father died, he left behind a painting. The subject was pure black, without a trace of light. Even if you looked closely, all you could see were messy brushstrokes, like scratches left by a group of dying people scratching at the coffin."

That painting ruthlessly proclaimed the future of Hull City… I can see it all in darkness whenever I close my eyes.

He laughed hoarsely.

“No, that’s not it, Dalin. I was too naive and too foolish. It doesn’t depict the future of Hull City—it depicts the future of the entire world.”

A bizarre hallucination flashed before Dalin's eyes. He saw the dark world expanding into the civilized world, and the gray abyss, like a tsunami hundreds of meters high, mercilessly swallowing up city-state after city-state.

From the outer edge of the flames to the inner ring of the flame core, even the eternally undying second sun eventually lost its light.

Darkness, absolute darkness.

Decal shouted hoarsely, "Are you willing to submit to such a fate? I know we are small and powerless, and saving the world is too grand and too unattainable for us."

But if it's just about defending Hel, perhaps there's something we can do?

His tone became frantic, and he gripped Dai Lin's shoulders with both hands, as if delivering a morbid sermon, desperately trying to retain his only listener.

"No matter how many people are sacrificed, no matter what the cost, even if we get our hands dirty and are despised by everyone, as long as we protect this city, this is our resistance and our victory."

De Karl paused, took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and released his hands.

Dai Lin remained silent for a long time this time, his gaze lowered, until a soft sigh escaped his lips.

“Okay, Chief.”

He wore a sorrowful expression. "Since it's for the sake of Hel City... what right do I have to refuse?"

Seeing that he had convinced Daelin, Decal calmly inquired.

"How much intelligence have you gathered about the Reverse Falcon?"

Dai Lin glanced at the documents on the table and said, "We found a lot; it's a major breakthrough."

"I collected iron feathers left behind by the Reverse Falcon from the ruins of the vertical farm. Through the analysis of the characteristics of the steel by the spirit craftsmen, we found the supplier of this steel on the black market."

He claimed to supply many people, and I used some tricks to get a list of clients out of him. After screening, I got a name.

Dai Lin cautioned, "I don't have high hopes for the authenticity of the name and identity. After all, the Reverse Falcon has been active for so many years. It would be too ridiculous if we caught it so easily."

“But…” he paused, “does it matter whether it’s true or false? You just need a reason to fire.”

Dekar nodded, then shook his head.

"That reason isn't enough; we need to make some sacrifices."

Dailin paused for a moment, then realized something, his expression turned terrified, and he even growled.

The energy surged and churned within his body, gathering at his skin and weaving a dense protective layer until it enveloped his entire body.

But it was still too late.

The eerie power of returning to stillness had already permeated Dailin's mind long before he realized it. His eyes became unfocused, his consciousness became blurred and wandering, and the continuity of his memories was interrupted.

Dai Lin's memory of the last ten seconds vanished, leaving him in a brief daze until the pain in his mouth struck his nerves like an alarm bell.

Long ago, when Cillian shared the power of the Path of Destiny, the two of them were troubled by how to immediately recognize their own situation and continue fighting when their short-term memories evaporated.

After a series of discussions, the two reached the same conclusion.

pain.

This most primitive and direct sensory feedback will directly trigger a high level of alertness.

It worked! The rising energy converged at the fist, giving it that terrifying shockwave power.

Dalin silently raised his fist, but the blow was not aimed at Decal, but at the documents on the table.

From some point onward, De Karl noticed this document.

Dalin's gaze kept glancing at it, and his body would occasionally make protective movements. If he guessed correctly, this document contained information about the Reverse Falcon.

Due to the flaws in his destined path to oblivion, Dekar would not easily believe any information, but in this life-or-death situation, Daelin's immediate choice to tear up the document made him subconsciously believe that...

Everything is true.

As the heavy punch landed, Dai Lin's vision was swallowed by a chaotic whiteness, like a television set that had lost its signal, constantly flickering with static.

shrieks, tearing sounds, curses...

Suddenly, a strange feeling of weightlessness gripped Dailin.

He continued to fall, crashing through the office floor and the damp soil, sinking deeper and deeper until he plunged into the foggy, abandoned city and into the room that had trapped him for his entire life.

We've come back to where it all began.

Dailin stood by the bed, watching the figure completely swallowed by the shadows, listening to her gradually weakening breaths.

He felt he should say something, but didn't know where to begin.

In the end, he could only examine his own soul and speak with piety and reverence.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry for everything."

"Dailin murmured."

"I'm sorry... I'm jealous of those guys who live the life I dream of. Their daily routines, which I'm already tired of, are a kind of beauty that I can never reach in my lifetime."

Similarly, I don't care about so-called love and peace, nor can I derive any joy or happiness from them. My actions stem solely from self-hatred and eternal repentance.

Dalin had a chance to escape; however slim the hope, he had the opportunity to try.

He refused.

Dailin offered herself as a sacrifice to fill the emptiness in her heart, having long anticipated this day.

So he stopped waiting for the woman's response and turned to leave the room.

I opened my eyes, and my consciousness returned to reality.

The familiar office is now a pile of ruins, with wood chips and scraps of paper scattered everywhere. The sofa that had held his countless days and nights has collapsed, and he is lying on its remains.

Dalin tried to get up, but the excruciating pain throughout his body held him firmly to the ground. With difficulty, he raised his head and saw Decal standing beside him.

He remained composed, without a trace of blood or dirt on his body, and not even the hem of his clothes was torn.

Decal was holding a flail in his hand, the metal sphere at the end of which was hollow, and the incense inside was burning quietly, with milky white gas slowly escaping from the hole.

Daelin belatedly realized that he had just fought with Decal, but under the influence of the power of silence, that memory had become a blank.

It's like someone roughly cut off a film reel, abruptly connecting two story segments.

"Chief..."

Just as Dai Lin was about to speak, the gushing blood blocked his throat, causing him to cough painfully.

Decal glanced at Daelin, then looked at the documents in his hand.

It was wrinkled and soaked in blood, and the words on it had become blurred. If I hadn't intervened in time, it would have been destroyed by Dalin.

Tick ​​tock, tick tock...

The chimes on the wall sounded like the heartbeat of fate, urging Dai Lin on. He felt a strange tranquility, neither sad nor happy.

Why are you making that face?

Decal was enraged by this expression.

He never understood why anyone would break down in the face of a dark end, but Dalyn would not.

why?
Why aren't you crying, despairing, or afraid? Why are you so calm?
Dai Lin looked around. The office he was in now was just like the narrow, dimly lit room from back then.

“I just got used to this kind of world a long time ago.”

Decal stepped forward, the flail hovering above Daelin's head with a whooshing sound, its shadow casting a shadow over the pale face from blood loss.

If nothing unexpected happens, he will smash Daelin's head and wipe everything out at this very moment.

But Decal did not do that, believing that Daelin's calmness was just a bluff, and that in a few more seconds, he would break down and beg for mercy...

"Decal Quirk, after doing all this, do you really feel at peace?"

Daelin's question was like a sharp knife, piercing Decal's heart.

His arm tensed instantly, the flail seemed about to crash down at any moment, and his iron-like hand gripped Dailin's shoulder blade, almost crushing the bones.

His eyes blazed with fury fueled by fear, yet his voice was barely audible, like the howl of a wounded beast.

"Calm? You fools who are content to live under the existing order, how could you understand the ripples in my heart!"

The force in his hand suddenly loosened, and the rage receded like a tide, leaving only a bottomless exhaustion and an almost nihilistic coldness.

The flail crashed down with a clang into the sawdust beside Dailin, sending up a few sparks.

Decal slowly crouched down, and in the depths of his bloodshot eyes, the last trace of human warmth seemed to have been extinguished, leaving only the empty and resolute look of a martyr.

He stretched out his blood- and dust-stained fingers and gently brushed across Dailin's sweat- and blood-soaked temples, the movement carrying a twisted, chilling tenderness.

“I have never felt at peace, Dalin.”

His voice was low and hoarse, as if it came from the abyss, “But I think that peace is waiting for me in the not-too-distant future… when I save Hull City.”

Sleep peacefully.

Decal's fingers rested on Daelin's brow, his voice turning into a cold whisper, like reciting a requiem for the deceased.

"When you wake up again, the city of Hull will have been reborn in my hands."

You will understand, you will be grateful... You will eventually recognize my righteous act; this is the only path to salvation.

The moment the words left his mouth, the remaining lights in the office flickered wildly a few times before suddenly going out.

An invisible, suffocating silence suddenly descended.

Decal's fingertips gathered into a barely perceptible gray ripple, which spread silently outwards.

The power of returning to stillness evaporated memories, first in the last few minutes, then in the last few hours, then in the last day, then in the last week... Memories continued to collapse and disintegrate until they returned to the deathly stillness of nothingness.

Dai Lin's unfocused pupils suddenly dilated, his body trembled violently uncontrollably, and a weak sob, like the mournful cry of a young animal, escaped his throat before he went completely limp.

Soon, his eyes became as empty and blank as a cleaned glass window, reflecting no light or shadow.

Decal slowly withdrew his hand, no longer looking at the unconscious Daelin on the ground, and silently turned away like a stone statue that had just stepped down from the altar.

The corridor lights flickered on and off, and the busy employees, who were chatting in hushed tones, were now like puppets with broken strings, lying on the cold floor tiles or huddled around their workstations in various poses.

On each familiar or young face, only a blank stare remained, as if utterly hollowed out. Dekar's boots echoed dully as they pounded the ground in the empty, deathly corridor.

His steps faltered almost imperceptibly for a moment, and a young female clerk collapsed beside him, a notebook soaked in coffee lying beneath her.

De Karl stared at her face, which looked exceptionally young due to her unconsciousness. She was a promising talent he had once admired and planned to cultivate. He had clearly told her that she didn't need to work overtime during her internship, but she still worked until late at night.

A fleeting, indescribable pain flashed across his eyes, as fast as an illusion, before being enveloped by an even deeper chill.

"In order to oppose the city council, you launched a surprise attack on the city guard bureau in the middle of the night, resulting in many staff members being seriously injured and falling into a coma from which they cannot wake up."

The city-state council will not stand idly by; we will retaliate until we completely expel you.

Decale wove together the reality that was about to unfold, picked up the blood-stained document, and found that name amidst the crimson.

"Reverse Falcon, is that your name?"

He laughed.

"Sounds like a woman."

(End of this chapter)